Executive summary

Purpose of intervention

This intervention was to inspect the Management Systems and Assurance (LC 17) arrangements in the Sellafield Decommissioning Division. The objective was to verify that adequate arrangements are implemented correctly and that appropriate governance is applied to assure nuclear safety. This inspection is identified on the Sellafield Performance Plan 3 Inspection plan which covers the Decommissioning Division

Interventions Carried Out by ONR

I carried out an inspection of Management Systems in the Sellafield Decommissioning Division. The aim of this inspection was to understand the scope of these arrangements, and how effective they are in providing assurance to key persons with the responsibility for safety.

Explanation of Judgement if Safety System Not Judged to be Adequate

N/A

Key Findings, Inspector's Opinions and Reasons for Judgements Made

I was satisfied that the Sellafield Decommissioning Division has established and implemented Management systems which meet the requirements of Licence Condition 17 and give due priority to safety.

Sellafield Limited confirmed that lower level operational procedures (OI & ROI) are not covered by the Assurance framework. As compliance to these is important for nuclear safety I felt this was an area for improvement. Sellafield Limited confirmed they would review how assurance could be gained that these are effectively implemented.

I reviewed the output from the tier 1 audits. Decommissioning Division had carried out 610 Tier 1 audits last year. It was encouraging that qualitative data was now available from the Tier 1's to show a reasonable compliance score. This is considered a positive development in the Decommissioning Division.

I reviewed the other assurance activities including Tier 2 and Tier 3 audits, and supplier quality audits, and the programme was judged to be adequate. It was encouraging to note that the internal regulators are no longer required to deliver the Tier 3 audit schedule, which will enable them to focus more independently on delivering an internal challenge capability without being drawn into the organisations internal processes.

Conclusion of Intervention

Overall, I judged compliance to Licence Condition 17 to be adequate. Although there is still some scope to improve the assurance and management review arrangements in the Decommissioning Division, this was already recognised by Sellafield Limited, and so no specific actions are necessary to address this. I recommend that another LC17 inspection is carried out in the 2015/16 inspection programme to follow up these aspects.